Call it the trail of cheers — the popular Red Hook bistro Tini Wine Bar lost its lease in one space, but paraded up Van Brunt Street as volunteers (and even some wine-bar-loving tykes) hoisted the eatery’s possessions to a new storefront on Sunday.
After a bacchanal final dinner on Saturday night, everything was “takeout” on Sunday morning, from the silverware to the bar. Three flatbed trucks and about 50 helpers hauled the whole enchilada to the corner of Pioneer Street, where the restaurant will reopen in a space the owners had used for their separate catering business.
“It was the most amazing thing I’ve seen in a long time,” said Lesiah Swenson, a co-owner of the restaurant, famed for cooking outstanding eggs in a hot plate because she didn’t have a full kitchen. (The new location is bigger and better equipped.)
Swenson said it was almost a perfect trip down the street considering the unorthodox approach to one of the most hated activities of modern civilization — moving.
“The only thing that broke the entire day was a piece of our fridge that was in an Ikea bag. Somebody picked it up and it shattered,” she laughed.
The site of a mermaid, juggler and man on stilts walking down the street with people carrying moving boxes in a procession wouldn’t exactly surprise many people in the Hook, said one woman.
“Everybody in Red Hook is a little bit touched in the head,” said Beatrice Giovanniello, who dressed as the mermaid and owns Atlantis, an antique business also on Van Brunt Street.
